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MAY 24, 2004 - PRAGUE

By Megan Sankey, junior soprano and President-Elect of the Drake Choir

Today is our final day to enjoy the lovely city of Prague. It's a bittersweet day as we realize that this is our last day to enjoy each other's company.

We began the day with our continental breakfast at the hotel and proceeded to meet our city guides, who would take us on a tour of the Jewish Quarter. We visited several synagogues, each intricately decorated with paintings and gold foil. They contained articles of significance to the Jewish faith. One of the most moving experiences was our stop at the Pinkas Synagogue. After World War II, this place of worship was turned into a memorial to the 80,000 Czech Jews who were murdered in concentration camps. Each one of the victims' names was inscribed on the wall. The enormity of the Nazis' extermination was vividly conveyed as we looked at wall after wall covered with the victims' names, birth years and the year of their transport to a concentration camp.

The upstairs of the museum is dedicated to drawings created by children who lived in the Terazin Concentration Camp. Led by an extraordinary teacher, the children of Terazin were encouraged to use art as a means of expressing their memories of home, their response to the horrifying conditions of their lives in the camp, and their hopes for the future. We then moved through the Old Jewish Cemetery, where the stones spoke of the lives of the Prague Jews confined to the ghetto for centuries.

Following the tour, we were given free time for lunch and sight-seeing. Many of us chose to take advantage of the great shopping areas to purchase souvenirs for family and friends. The weather finally cooperated with our free time, as it was sunny with a nice breeze.

During the late afternoon, we met at the location of our final concert, St. Martin-in-the-Wall. This church, built in the Middle Ages, has this unique title because one of its walls was part of the wall surrounding medieval Prague. After rehearsal, everyone went separate ways to grab a bite for dinner and to get ready for the concert. We met in the lobby, sporting our formalwear for one last time in Europe. Everyone made the journey over to the church and attempted to focus on the task before us.

We shared the concert with a choir from Charles University, the oldest university in central Europe. It was founded less than 100 years after Oxford. It was fun to hear not only the differences in our music but also in the sound they produced.

Following their performance, we all walked on stage to share our music one last time. The performance was very emotional and was probably one of the most heartfelt experiences I have ever had. There was a strong, unfaltering connection that was present among us that night and it made time stand still. It was a beautiful moment in time to feel the love each of us has for the choir and each other. I realized how truly lucky and blessed I've been to be given such a great experience and the chance to share all this with 47 people who are very much my "family." If there is such a thing as perfection, I feel that the time of the concert was it.

The perfect night was topped by a farewell dinner in U Rotta restaurant, near the Old Town Square. Laughter filled the room as toasts were made and events of the tour highlighted. Expressions of thanks were offered to everyone who made this fantastic trip possible, including Ron Rolland, President of Seminars International, our tour company; Katherine Goatly, who works for Sovereign Tourism in London and who spent much time handling arrangements for our tour; Marketa Dvorakova, a former Drake international student who lives in Prague and who arranged our concert in the fabulous Clementinum on Sunday (by the way, she is the great-granddaughter of Antonin Dvorak!), Dave Collier, who served as our medical advisor, problem solver, photographer and website developer; Manfred Bruckmiller, our wonderful driver; and Ray Brown, our fantastic tour manager. Happiness and joy filled the air as all of us celebrated the last moments together during a fantastic tour of Europe.

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